Customer Reviews

The Rise of the Roman Empire (Penguin Classics)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Polybius, a Greek hostage held in Rome from 168 BC to 150 BC, set himself the task of explaining the rise of the Roman Empire. Deliberately written for Roman audiences, Polybius intends to describe the 53 year rise to hegemony from 220-167 BC. However Polybius includes considerable background material on the First Punic War and he later decided to extend his history to include the Third Punic War. Unfortunately, much of the original work is missing and Penguin has decided to edit out even more, which leaves a hollow remnant.

The real value of this book lies in Polybius' description of the Second Punic War with Hannibal. There are excellent battle descriptions of the Trebbia, Lake Trasimene, Cannae, the Metaurus and Zama. Remember, Polybius was writing only 60-70 years after these events and had access to many documents that are now lost. Polybius was also able to visit some of the battlefields when they had not changed significantly since Hannibal's time. There is also a good section on Roman military methods, which was enlightening.

However this book is disappointing in a number of areas. In terms of the original work, Polybius tends to digress on topics of interest to himself (but not to modern readers), such as criticizing other contemporary historians. He also has a strong pedantic streak and strives more to impart "lessons" than facts. He continually hammers home his theory that one cannot be a good historian unless one has walked the ground and gained personal military and political experiences. This certainly helps, but there are plenty of generals and politicians that make poor authors. Yet the greatest disappointment lies in the lack of any detail on the Third Punic War and the dramatic defeat of the Greek phalanx by Roman legions at Cynocephalae. Since Polybius was a witness at the destruction of Carthage, I eagerly anticipated this chapter only to find it instead to be a very short three page section with only general comments.

Amazingly, the period with the greatest detail is the Second Punic War, when Polybius was not alive. The Third Punic War and the Siege of Numantia in Spain, both of which Polybius observed directly, are excluded. This reduced the value of this volume tremendously.

It is unfortunate that, despite the fact that some of Polybius's Histories have been lost over time, Penguin made the decision to cut out even more from the text that has luckily survived down to us through the ages. To make matters worse, the introduction doesn't really state clearly what exactly has been cut.

Next time I want to read one of the classics, I'll go immediately to Loeb. It's worth the extra cash. Anyone want my Penguin copy?

Many other reviewers on this site lament all that has been cut from this translation. The decision, of course, was not entirely up to Penguin. A great portion of Polybius' work has been lost to the ravages of history. Other surviving portions are quite repetitive. As someone with an interest in the history but not a consuming scholarly passion, I found the selections well-chosen and fascinating; the translation readable. What more can you ask?

F.W. Walbank's long-winded introduction told me much more than I ever needed to know about this second-tier historian. What makes Polybius valuable is that he actually played a part in some of the events he described and seems to have prized first-hand sources, interviewing people involved and consulting contemporary documents, especially in the Roman Senate. As a Greek who had spent time in Rome, he wrote the history primarily for his fellow Greeks, to explain how a nothing civilization (Rome) on the edge of the Hellenistic World rose to power so quickly.

The account of Rome's Wars with Carthage is very even-handed and compelling. In other passages, his Greek prejudices often show through. Especially when he is talking about rival historians like Timaeus. He devotes a whole chapter, in fact, to insulting Timaeus. The chapter shows you something of Polybius' character that he would stop his history of the world to engage in academic fisticuffs.

This book functions well as an explanation of Rome to a non-Roman. I learned a great deal about the character of Rome and the Romans as well as all the Hellenistic kingdoms. At 541 pages, no one can accuse this of being a reader's digest version. The appendix includes nice maps and all the sections are titled so that one can easily flip through and find the portion in the chapter "Affairs in Greece" on "The Character of Philip." I guess what you have to ask yourself is whether you are already an expert on the history of the Mediterranean World from 200 to 146 BCE. If so, you are probably beyond Penguin editions like this one.

The Penguin Classics, though an excellent publisher, has made a habit of abridging many major works and not always to their benifit---this is one. Though the abridgments are done to make the classics more "accessable" to the ordinary reader, they at the same time dispense with much crucial information. In the case of this edition they have disposed of large chunks of the narrative leading to a sense of discontinuity from book to book, most importantly the battle of Cynoscephalae and the taking and destruction of Carthage. Other than these few deficiencys a fine introduction to one of the greatest masters of socio-political analysis from the ancient world.

I am not going to review Polybius, the historian, because this is not the appropriate place to do so. But, suffice it to say that Polybius is one of the more reliable ancient historians extant. For the period Polybius covers in his history, particularly for the period for which he was a contemporary, he is considered the most authoritative source, other than inscriptions or archeological evidence.

Thus, the importance of Polybius cannot be overstated.

That is why this English Language edition is both so promising, and at the same time dissipointing.

F.W. Walbank is the pre-eminent English-speaking Historian of the past 60 years on Polybius and the Hellenistic era. His scholarly work "Historical Commentaries on Polybius" are a standard reference for any historian writing about this period.

As such, an accessible English translation of Polybius edited by Professor Walbank should be (and I emphasize the word "should") the standard text in every English speaking classroom teaching this material.

And, in fact it mostly is.

But, like many others reviewing this edition, I can only lament that material that has been left out of the volume. And, I also agree that for whatever reason, Professor Walbank did not do a particularly good job of explaning what was excised and why he made the editorial decisions he did.

The translation by Ian Scott-Kilvert is frist rate. And you have the added comfort of knowing that the great F.W. Walbank gave it his stamp of approval.

But, I wish there were a complete, modern Polybius English translation that included all of the fragmentary materials and the portions of Polybius' work that were left out of this edition. [The Loeb translation by Paton is over 80 years old]. Specifically, it would have been nice to have a full English Translation that tracked Walbank's 3 Volume "Historical Commentary on Polybius," as almost a companion to that seminal work. Those who wished to pursue an issue in more depth could consult the Commentaries if they so desired.

There are rumors that a new English language edition of Polybius is being produced, and one can only hope that it is more comprehensive and comes close to the authoritativeness of Walbank's.

But, given the quality of what is provided in the Penguin Classics edition, and the assuredness of the scholarship that produced it, this is the starting point volume for any study of Polybius.

UPDATE FROM APRIL, 2010:

I hinted at the rumors, in my earlier review, that a new Polybius English translation was in the works. Joyfully, I can report that the Loeb classic volume originally translated ably by Paton so many decades ago has been completely revised with a great deal of input from none other than professor Walbank. They are set to be released in May of 2010, and I wholeheartedly recommend that anyone interested in the full Polybius look into acquiring them. Sadly, Professor Walbank passed away in 2008 so he was not able to complete the revision -- the revision is only of books 1-4 (in two volumes) of Polybius' work. Hopefully, Christian Habicht -- who also worked on the revision -- will be able to complete it.

UPDATE FROM JUNE, 2010:

The good news continues. Oxford is also preparing a new English translation by Robin Waterfield and Brian McCing -- of all the extant books and fragments. As someone with an avid interest in the middle Roman Republic, and who owns this Penguin volume, the Loeb volumes and also Professor Walbank's commentaries on Polybius, I look forward to these welcome additions. Anyone interested in this subject should have the Penguin volume because of Professor Walbank's influence on it. But, because it is incomplete, these updated translations are also essential.

It is unfortunate enough that only the first five books and a substantial amount of fragments of the rest of Polybius History have been preserved for our enjoyment, but it is really annoying that Peguin Classics has decided to further edit the material that has survived to our days. Penguin Classics should have dedicated two or three books to cover all the material, the same way it handled Livy's (four books). The alternative is the Loeb Classic editions, hard to read, expensive, and very difficult to have access even in public and university libraries. It is also a mistery to me why Penguin Classics has ignored Diodorus Siculus's work (Lybrary) when all specialists agree it is a must read for that period between the end of the Peloponnesian War, Philip the Great and the Alexander's successors. Again the only alternative is the Loeb Classics edition. Too bad.

History is best not written by historians. Polybius was not a historian in the modern sense of the word. He was actually a member of the Greek ruling class and a diplomat who didn't write history for money but for a love of knowledge - a true philosopher, then, a lover of wisdom.

Historians distort, add their own spin on things, try to impress publishers or university administrators, focus on some things rather than others, and basically streamline and funnel the information that the final reader gets.

Although this book is not written by a professional historian, it is edited by one. Frank W. Walbank. What we get here as a result are badly-chosen fragments of the original work. The book doesn't even state clearly what it leaves out. There is a sickening predictability about the way all the more obvious episodes are chosen. Most of the book focuses on the well-beaten historical track of the Second Punic War with its accounts of Hannibal and his blasted elephants. Most of the people likely to read this book probably know Hannibal backwards and are ready for something new from the ancient world.

If you are only interested in the HIGHLIGHTS OF HISTORY this book will be fine if somewhat disjointed. Personally, I was hoping it would shed more light on the less well-known corners of history, like the squabbles of the petty Greek states, and the dynastic struggles in the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires.

I can just picture the editorial meeting with the executives from Penguin and the editor: "Don't bother with all that obscure stuff about the Aetolian League - we don't have room for it. But as for Hannibal - now, there's a star - give him all the space he needs and don't forget the elephants."

With a work as important as Polybius, why can't Penguin give us the whole history in as many volumes as they wish and allow the readers to choose which ones to read instead of choosing for us?

It is true that this Penguin edition is an abridged work but it still has 541 pages. For example, selections from Book VI include "On the Forms of States" (Chapters3-10) and the famous "On the Roman Constitution at its Prime" (Chapters 11-19)-which discusses the great value of Rome's "mixed constitution" (separation of powers among three major power groups -- kinglike executive(consul), aristocracy (Senate), and the general mass of people voting in assembly ) This idea greatly influenced the American Founding Fathers and the design of the American Constitution.) It is rather hilarious to read Chapter II of Machiavelli's "The Discourses" and see how heavily he plagarized from Polybius's "On the Forms of States". However, some of Polybius's ideas had been discussed roughly 200 years earlier in Aristotle's "The Politics" (Book III)

"The Roman Republic Compared with Others" (Chapter 43-56) is also an interesting discussion. Polybius notes that a socialistic government like Sparta's promotes internal harmony and civil discord which provides formidable defensive strength. However, Polybius explains how such a society does not have the economic foundations necessary to support a large empire--which accounted for Sparta's failure when it tried to expand. What is very eerie, however, is Polybius's opinion circa 120 BC that Rome and her Constitution might last for a long time --whereas in reality, Rome collapsed into civil war shortly thereafter and the Republic was replaced by the military dictatorships of Julius and Augustus Caesar about 70 years later. Polybius gave us a hint of why this occurred. Polybius noted that Rome's strength was the strong virtue of her citizens -- that it was rare to find a Roman official who would accept a bribe. That changed in the succeeding decades of course -- Sallust noted how corruption arose within the patricians and spread like wildfire throughout the Roman government in the period of 100-35 BC. One could argue that this was the root cause of the Republic's collapse -- Something for the US Congress to remember with it's bland acceptance of today's corrupt campaign finance system.

The Penguin edition includes a useful INTRODUCTION written by FW
Walbank in which he provides interesting background material on Polybius --section 11 of Walbank's Introduction has a rough outline of what's been included in the Abridgement. While an even fuller book would have been nice, maybe Walbank wanted us to buy his A Historical Commentary on Polybius :Commentary on Books Vii-XVIII -- by F. W. Walbank

Get the Loeb edition instead. Penguin is not selling the entire work of Polybius here, but rather the sections that pertain to their "Rise of the Roman Empire" theme. If you're looking for any information on the Macedonian successor states of Alexander, look elsewhere, because Penguin cut it out of this edition.

The only thing that saves this book from the abyss of the single star is that it is very readable, which is a major compliment for Polybius, who is one of antiquity's drier historians. It also has good appendices and a better index than some other Penguin books. (Tacitus, I'm looking at you.)

Finally, a lively, modern translation so we can grasp what that sophisticated Greek was talking about! Earlier translations were stilted and terribly formal, but worst of all they failed to realize that Polybius was trying to save Greece from the excesses that led to her decline. He often digresses into Greek politics to prove to his Greek readers that he knew exactly what was going on, and therefore was neither an outsider nor a turncoat, but rather a patriot explaining that Rome was the new world power and that the warring Greek states would be a lot better off if they traded Roman Law for Greek Civil War. He wrote all this while a prisoner of the Romans, but he had powerful friends -- like the Scipios. He had to be careful about what he wrote on the one hand and yet he had to get his point across. Polybius was in the hot seat. This translation by Ian Scott-Kilvert shows you just how hot that seat was.